Nostalgia for the 90s NBA
With the proliferation of super teams in the NBA and the rapid digitalization of the world that tunes into it, the league is far different today than it ever has been. Because of this, much of the media industry yearns for the league they experienced in their childhood, the 90s NBA. This was a league full of polarizing stars, over-the-top jerseys and hard-nosed, physical play that differs greatly from what is witnessed today. The NBA today is a hyper-analyzed, routine-perfected league in which the teams are built efficiently, the stars behave efficiently and the game is played efficiently which is in stark contrast to the games that took place on the hardwood in the 90s. However, this decade wasn’t some unique period of basketball that can never be repeated. Rather, the NBA was so popular in this period because of the perfect spokesman who was Michael Jordan and 90s fashion trends that leaked onto the court.
Basketball before the three point line was introduced was a fairly simple game. Since everything was worth two points, that means that the closer you got to the hoop, the higher chance the ball went in. Because of this, big men were extremely valuable, so for several decades in the early stages of the NBA, nearly all elite players in the league were 6’10” or taller and got most of their buckets by getting as close as they could to the hoop and lobbing it up. This continued even throughout the introduction of the three point line in 1979 as most of the league was reluctant to adapt to the new rule change. As such, perhaps a more important addition to the league in the 1979 season were the rookie campaigns of both Larry Bird and Magic Johnson which--combined with the addition of the three point line--is commonly referred to as the start of the modern era of basketball. This marked the start of a change in the league’s stars. Before Larry and Magic, the greatest player in the league had historically always been a center. But then, after 5 combined MVPs, the two rivals changed the stigma of who could be a star in the league and made the league faster, craftier and more exciting. See both of these players were tall like the earlier stars--Magic listed at 6’10” and Bird listen at 6’9”--however they played differently than previous stars and were not in star-traditional positions. Magic played point guard and ran the Showtime Lakers and Bird shot the lights out of the Boston Garden and was one of the smartest players in league history. This marked a stark change in the appearance of the NBA’s stars as Larry especially proved that if a player can shoot, he didn’t have to be 7’0” 280 lbs. After Magic and Larry retired in the early 90s, most stars in the league were in the form that they were for much of the NBA’s history and most general managers still believed that a team needed to be built around and have a franchise center to succeed. This was echoed in the draft results of much of the 80s with forwards/centers being with at least the first two picks in every draft from 1983-1988 including one year in which the first guard draft was not until the 1oth selection. One team who especially believed in this mantra was the Portland Trailblazers who owned the 2nd pick in the 1984 NBA draft and after the Houston Rockets selected Hakeem Olajuwon--a center out of the University of Houston--with the first pick, the Trailblazers were now on the board. They had the option of a potential superstar, best-talent-in-the-draft guard versus an injury-prone yet productive center and despite how crazy it may seem, they actually had reason to choose the latter. The year before, their center Bill Walton had fallen victim to a number of foot injuries and they had just drafted shooting guard Clyde Drexler--who would go on to be a 10-time all-star and hall of famer--so drafting another shooting guard made little sense at the time. However, many argue that the Trailblazers should’ve drafted for talent rather than need as well as seen the chronic injuries Bowie suffered in college and passed up on him however they didn’t listen. They selected center Sam Bowie from Kentucky and the next pick went to the Chicago Bulls who drafted shooting guard Michael Jordan from North Carolina. Michael Jordan was the next big thing in the league and his presence was noticed immediately. After a few all-stars and great seasons in the 80s, he really blew up in the 90s and started to change the rest of the league as he tore threw it so effortlessly. See in the 90s, the best players in the league are commonly considered to be Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan. Michael stands out from these players, however, as he has the distinction of being the only one of those players to not be a center. He proved that a team could be built around a smaller guy which was not only great for the League but fantastic for marketing as Michael Jordan was simply more relatable and more fun to emulate than the stars of before. Jordan was great for many reasons but the rules in the 1990s definitely had an impact on his productivity in the game, both for better and for worse. The rule that mainly impeded him was the hand check rule which allowed defenders to keep a hand on the offensive ball handler at all times to impede progress towards the hoop. One writer from SB Nation says, “The hand-check gave a second life to so many slow perimeter players. Craig Ehlo would have been fried in this era--But he ultimately was the man tasked with checking Jordan, and--he was better at it than most.” (Prada, 1) This means that a man who would be considered a horrible defender in today’s league was considered a specialist for shutting down Jordan and he owes most of his defensive success to this rule which allowed him to make up for slow feet by simply holding his hand on Jordan. This difference in rules is an extremely interesting one to look when one starts to think about how today’s stars would fare in a league in which hand checks were still legal. If today’s slow defenders like James Harden and Nik Stauskas had the ability to use hand checks then perhaps not only would they make up for their lack of effort or talent on that end of the floor but maybe they would be considered specialists for stopping Lebron James a la Craig Ehlo in the 90s. Not only that but imagine how good today’s great defenders like Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson could be at stopping Lebron James if hand checking were still legal. This really puts Michael Jordan’s greatness in comparison when one thinks about the fact that he did all of this in an era where an unathletic, slow wing player can be considered a defensive specialist. However, one thing that certainly helped Michael Jordan and allowed him to thrive in the era of big men were the defensive rules at the time. The rules in the 90s “penalized teams for, essentially, playing zone. If you wanted to double-team a player, you had to double-team a player. There was no digging down, no helping off non-shooters to pre-rotate to stop the bigger scoring threat. It was double-team or nothing.” (Prada, 1) As can be seen in the diagram below, look at the difference between the 90s and today in how defenders can help when a perimeter player is backing down towards the paint.
In the bottom frame, the defenders are all digging down, helping in case Lebron beats his initial defender so he doesn’t have an open path to the lane. However in the 90s this wasn’t possible as the top frame shows how Michael Jordan only had to beat one defender to get to the rim. This means that in Jordan’s era, despite the fact that hand checking was legal, there could only be one defender on him. Whereas today, a player may only have one other person guarding him but then three other men in close proximity waiting for if the offensive player blows by their teammates. This was a huge advantage for isolation players like Michael Jordan who thrived by calling isos--in which all four other players on their team (and thusly, their defender as well)--went to one side of the court while Jordan and his defender were on the other. Jordan would then proceed to essentially be playing one-on-one with his defender and it’s not hard to imagine who would win in that scenario. This is one of the majors knocks of 90s basketball and it’s not even very well-known but it’s interesting to imagine how dominant players in today’s era like Lebron James or Carmelo Anthony could be if only one defender and no more could guard them at once.
NBA jerseys always follows consistent trends through the years. While harder to follow in the early days of the league, they have become more consistent as the decades went on. These were especially consistent in the 90s, when it seemed like most NBA jerseys had evolved to be the most unique they have ever been. The style at the time is hard to explain but can best be described as a bold color with the team’s mascot on the chest but in opposition to most other decades in the NBA when the mascot would be represented in text, in this decade they just decided to plaster the whole animal on there. These jerseys were bold, colorful and meant to jump out of the television set in an era that solidified the NBA’s stance as a professional sports league in America. Most of the memorable jerseys from this era were expansion teams which meant that these styles were their first jersey ever which is why many of these teams tried so hard to pop and grab attention. These weren’t the classic Lakers and Celtics who succumbed to the trends off the court and changed their look rather it was the new teams donning the court for the first time. Two of these teams were the Toronto Raptors and the (then) Vancouver Grizzlies who both debuted in 1995. Their inaugural jerseys are shown below.
It makes sense that expansion teams would create bold jerseys in an effort to catch eyes in a tumultuous industry but these weren’t the only teams who had eye-popping styles. Even teams who existed before 1990 changed up their jerseys to reflect the style at the time, including the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and a few more. The Pistons jersey change is shown below.
As can be seen by the Pistons, teams in the 90s tended to change their colors from a normal color to one that’s more unique as well as plaster their logo directly on the jersey. If you think I’m cherry picking the Pistons as a prime example of the era’s changes, just check out these changes from the Hawks and the Timberwolves during the 90s.
It’s not entirely obvious from the photos, but the Timberwolves changed from a more vibrant, royal blue to a duller, gray-blue with this change as well as changed the font of their team name.
These jerseys are inarguably bold and memorable. Whether that translates to them being good jerseys is up to those looking at them but there is a reason all of these teams no longer don the bold looks they had in the 90s. However, these jerseys are all still for sale so there is still demand for them but it seems most of it is tied to nostalgia. Sports journalist Cory Collins commented on looks in the 90s, “Most uniform critics will bemoan these turn-of-the-century works of art, dismiss them as the desecration of classic jerseys everywhere--But--For '90s nostalgics--the neon-hued and the ridiculous remain our lifeblood. They remain our connection to a time more innocent, and more absurd.” (Collins, 1) Sean Highkin, a writer for USA Today’s For The Win had this to add, “the 1990s were an outstanding time for NBA aesthetics — do not ever let the haters tell you otherwise.” (Highkin, 1) It seems that all writers have to say about the jerseys of the time is that they are great and to not listen to any naysayers which leads me to think their love of the jersey can be tied to nothing else besides nostalgia.
Nostalgia with jerseys had always had an interesting place in this league. Some teams, like the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks, have refused to redesign their jerseys in over 50 years, instead opting for small tweaks to stay with the times.
Trends like these are deeply tied to nostalgia as these few teams who have designed their “timeless” look can no longer easily switch up their look without upsetting a large portion of their fanbase. Fans of the ‘86-’87 Showtime Lakers can easily look at the team today and still resemble them as the Los Angeles Lakers of their childhood whereas the same cannot be said for fans of the Atlanta Hawks or Cleveland Cavaliers. Very few teams have achieved this feat in with their jerseys as only the Lakers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs have gone more than 40 years without a major branding change to either the style of their jerseys, their color scheme or their mascot. Other teams looking to emulate this sense of timelessness are not out of luck, however, as a recent trend has brought back looks from the past. The retro redesign era has teams ditching the ugly, baggy style of the 2000s and instead donning updated looks of jerseys worn in the past. The list of teams who have opted for something like this includes the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards.
This age of the NBA was timeless for so many reasons but I think to arbitrarily add value to any decade over another is foolish for so many reasons. The NBA is just as good today if not better than it ever has been, and that includes the 90s. Lebron James would be a one-of-a-kind, transcendent player in that decade just as he is in this decade. However, you can’t blame those who grew up in the 90s for being attached to that decade of NBA ball because with Michael Jordan and those timeless flashy jerseys, there truly is no decade like the 90s. This should be a good lesson to enjoy the times we live in right now because it’s not long until a student in Vlad’s class 15 years down the road ponders, was the NBA really better in the 2010s?
Works Cited:
Prada, Mike. “How Would MJ Fare in Today's NBA?” SBNation.com, SBNation.com, 25 Mar. 2014, www.sbnation.com/2014/3/25/5542838/nba-rules-changes-lebron-james-michael-jordan.
“Piston's Jersey.” Joe's Jersey, www.joesjersey.ru/upfile/pladd/detroit-pistons-33-soul-swingman-green-jersey.jpg.
“Piston's Old Jersey.” Football Fanatics, images.footballfanatics.com/FFImage/thumb.aspx?i=/productImages/_2148000/ff_2148683_full.jpg&w=600.
“Hawks' Jerseys.” Uniform Critics, uniformcritics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/atl-hawks-90s-bird-away-620x775.jpg.
“Jordan Picture.” SB Nation, cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/4183421/Screen_Shot_2014-03-24_at_9.38.27_PM.png.
“Lakers Jerseys.” Sports Logos, content.sportslogos.net/logos/6/237/full/d9hffxnbekh1wlckvngez2gqp.gif. “Lebron Picture.” SB Nation, cdn0.sbnation.com/assets/4183469/Screen_Shot_2014-03-24_at_9.52.44_PM.png.
“Timberwolves Jerseys.” Sports Jerseypedia, www.sportsjerseypedia.com/pictures/Minnesota-Timberwolves-1996-2008-Road-Away-Jersey-uniform.jpg.
“Toronto Raptors Jersey.” ESPN, espntheundefeated.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/gettyimages-4701359131.jpg?w=1060&h=800&quality=70&strip=info.
“Vancouver Grizzlies Jerseys.” Vox, cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4912968/reeves_medium.jpg.
Collins, Cory. “1990s NBA Uniforms, Ranked from Cartoonish Best to Technicolor Worst.” Sporting News, Sporting News, 27 July 2015, www.sportingnews.com/nba/list/90s-nba-uniforms-photos-jerseys-best-worst-raptors-grizzlies-rockets-sonics-bulls/eqr74keav6e01qo5bbwcsnr8d.
Highkin, Sean. “The 10 Best NBA Jerseys of the 1990s.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 31 Jan. 2014, ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/nba-jerseys-1990s-best-magic-hornets-sonics.